Portsmouth fans furious with Yang Min-hyeok – ‘Send him back to Tottenham’
Yang Min-hyeok made his full Portsmouth debut on a night to forget on Wednesday.
John Mousinho’s men were knocked out of the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle thanks to a 2-1 defeat to Reading at Fratton Park.
Over 14,000 made the journey to PO4, with the home crowd widely expecting to see Portsmouth progress to the second round after being drawn against lower-tier opposition.
However, first-half goals by Andre Garcia and Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan put League One side Reading in a commanding position before Olutayo Singerr netted a late consolation after an assist by Adrian Segecic.
Yang torn to shreds over Portsmouth performance
Yang, 19, joined Portsmouth from Tottenham on a season-long loan last week.
He made his Pompey debut as a second-half substitute in the 1-0 win at Oxford United on Saturday, and a solid cameo at the Kassam Stadium was followed up by a start on the left wing against Reading at Fratton Park.
| Stats vs Reading | Yang |
| Minutes played | 90 |
| Touches | 53 |
| Accurate passes | 23/26 (88%) |
| Key passes | 0 |
| Accurate crosses | 0/1 (0%) |
| Accurate long balls | 1/2 (50%) |
| Shots on target | 0/0 |
| Completed dribbles | 0/4 (0%) |
| Possession lost | 17 |
However, the South Korean international’s full debut didn’t quite go to plan, with many fans left wondering whether or not the Spurs loanee will be a good signing for Mousinho.
One Portsmouth fan even suggested sending Yang back to his parent club, adding: “[If] you can’t hack Reading reserves, you’re not built for the Championship.”
What Mousinho has said about Yang since his arrival at Portsmouth
It’s harsh to judge Yang on just one and a bit of a performance, especially as he’s not even been on the books at Portsmouth for a week.
The Tottenham loanee needs time to adjust to Mousinho’s style, his new teammates and his new surroundings, so piling on him at this early stage seems harsh.
- Yang scored two goals in 14 appearances for QPR last season.
- His performances in West London led to a debut South Korea cap in March.
- Yang made his senior international bow as a substitute in a 1-1 draw with Jordan.
- Son Heung-min has said Yang is a “very bright player”.
Speaking before the defeat to Reading, Pompey boss Mousinho shared that he has high hopes for Yang.
As quoted by The News earlier this week, Mousinho said: “I first saw him last season at QPR, they played Derby on a Friday night and he was superb, a thorn in their side. I was pretty pleased, actually, that he didn’t start the following week at Fratton Park, although he came on and did well
“He’s a player we have been monitoring. Tottenham, rightly, have very, very high hopes for him and he’d been away with them on a pre-season tour, so we had to wait patiently to bring that loan in.
“He can play on either flank – on the left or right – and brings a lot of excitement to us.
“Min-hyeok is very sharp, you saw that when he was flagged offside, but the players didn’t realise and he nearly got in. He’s a skilful player, a tricky one to deal with, and I suppose a bit of a different profile if you look at the wingers we’ve got.”
Sign up for the Pompey News WhatsApp channel and turn on notifications to have all the latest, breaking Portsmouth news sent straight to your phone.